Vigil for Brooklyn Teenager Fatally Shot by the Police Turns Violent

A vigil for an armed Brooklyn teenager who was fatally shot by police officers turned violent Monday night when a small group broke off from the gathering and began throwing bottles at a local police precinct station house and knocking food off a bodega stand, the authorities said.

About 130 people had gathered at East 55th Street and Church Avenue in East Flatbush and were marching toward the 67th Police Precinct station house when about two dozen protesters splintered off and grew rowdy. No serious injuries were reported. One man, a 28-year-old, was arrested for disorderly conduct, said Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman.

Witnesses said that dozens of mostly young people marched through the area and overturned garbage cans. They threw bottles and other refuse at police officers, the witnesses said.

Mr. Browne said the group “trashed” a bodega at Church and Troy Avenues, “knocking all the fruits and vegetables from a stand.” Officers at the scene said a group of young people rampaged through a Rite Aid store on Church Avenue and tried to steal a cash register. At least two bystanders were injured; one was hit in the head with a bottle and hospitalized with a laceration to the head, said Kim Royster, a police spokeswoman. Inside the store, bottles of wine and other products were scattered about the floor.

The vigil was organized by community leaders to bring attention to the shooting late Saturday of Kimani Gray. Two plainclothes officers opened fire on Mr. Gray, 16, after he pulled out a gun and pointed it at them, Mr. Browne said. Witnesses told investigators that the pair had identified themselves as police officers and ordered him to show his hands, Mr. Browne said. Mr. Gray, who was shot in the abdomen and the legs, was pronounced dead at Kings County Hospital Center.

After the vigil became unruly, officers in riot gear set up barricades. Several residents said they sympathized with the young people, who they said were rightfully enraged by Mr. Gray’s death. “The kids were fed up with seeing their friends shot down like dogs,” Martin Williams said.